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NFL Draft Scouting Report: Anthony Miller, WR, Memphis

Anthony Miller - Memphis

Position: WR
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 190 lbs.
Year: RS Sr.
Hometown: Memphis, TN
Experience: 2-Year Starter

 

Measurables:

40yd dash: DNP
Broad jump: DNP
Vertical: DNP
3-cone: DNP
20yd. Shuttle: DNP
Bench Press: 22 reps

Career Notes:

Early in his career for the Tigers, Miller clawed his way through adversity to get onto the field. He walked on to the team as a true freshman in 2013 and was redshirted. A preseason injury before the 2014 season sidelined him for his redshirt freshman campaign. He would have to wait until 2015 before he could see the field for Memphis.

In 2015, he played in twelve of the Tigers’ thirteen games, starting four of them and missing a game against Houston to recover from an injury. Though he saw less time than his teammates, he had Memphis’s third-most receptions and let the team with five touchdown catches.

As a junior, Miller started all thirteen games and broke nearly all of Memphis’s receiving records. Miller set single-season highs in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and 100-yard receiving games (he had eight such games). He also gained the most all-purpose yards of any of his teammates.

With only his own records to break, Miller came back as a senior in 2017 and broke them all over again. He broke every record he set the previous year except for 100-yard receiving games. He only had six such games this time around, hardly a disappointment.

 

Injury Report: 

Miller missed what should have been his first season with Memphis because of a shoulder injury. He suffered a shoulder injury late in his high school career and it is unclear if those injuries were related. He missed a game in 2015 due to an unspecified injury, but remained healthy for the remainder of his junior and senior seasons. He sat out the senior bowl to rehab a bum ankle.

 

2017 Stats: 96 receptions, 1462 yards, 18 touchdowns

Career Stats:  https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/anthony-miller-6.html

 

Analysis:

Speed/Quickness 2.75/5.0: Miller’s agility did not leap off the screen. His physical gifts alone did not win him much separation or many first downs. Before the catch, he was shifty enough to pull away at the stem of a route for at least a half-yard advantage. After the catch, he timed cuts well to gain ground. He relied on technical skills more than straight-line speed to pull away from defenders down the field. In Memphis’s 2017 game against UCF, Miller’s limited speed was apparent as Mike Hughes remained attached to Miller for much of the game. His speed and quickness were functional and he showed a good deal of awareness of how to leverage those physical skills to max out plays.

Route Running 3.5/5.0: Miller’s ability to deceive defenders and burst out of his breaks created a lot of easy passing windows. Out of quick slants, he made light work of many defensive backs by selling to the outside with a hard first step and quickly sinking his hips to cut in. He often forced defenders to turn their hips the wrong direction and made them pay. Miller did not always carry that precision to mid-level in-breaking routes and defenders his windows were much tighter there as a result. His consistency in crashing to the outside made him reliable on corners, outs, and comeback routes. He responded to defenders’ cues a lot of times and would wait for them to make a decision down the field before breaking out of routes which occasionally led to indecisive routes. In the red zone, Miller aggressively closed the gap on defenders and created a lot of space to the perimeter for easy back-shoulder and over-the-top throws.

Hands 4.5/5.0: Miller was as dynamic a pass-catcher as anybody. No matter which direction he was running, he could extend his hands and haul in the football away from his body. In the red zone, he was adept at crashing to back-shoulder passes and adjusting his body to score. He allowed his quarterback a lot of simple throws by making a lot of difficult catches. His leaping ability and timing also made for some wicked catches against tight coverage, both inside and outside of the red zone. His work before the catch often made his job at the catch point look easy. Make no mistake, Miller could battle it out with physical corners and snag catches in tight windows. It might be easy to critique him for being over-reliant on catching the ball with his body at times, but he did so only after creating an ideal situation for an easy catch.

YAC Ability 3.25/5.0: Miller’s transition from catching to running was so smooth that it can be tough to find the exact moment he goes from being a receiver to a runner. On routes breaking towards the line of scrimmage, he would turn his feet as he made catches. As soon as his feet turned, his eyes followed and he read defenders. Memphis depended on his ability to make chicken salad out of not-chicken-salad on a number of screen plays. His ability to read his blocks was hit or miss. With a handful of defenders in front of him, he became a lateral runner a bit too much when he should have just cut upfield and taken the yards he could get. He consistently grinded out yards after contested catches by churning his legs and enforcing his will on defenders.

Blocking 2.5.0/5.0: Nothing to write home about, but nothing to worry about, Miller was as good as he needed to be as a blocker. His technique was inconsistent, but his strength allowed him to recover from mistakes in hand placement and pad level. He could miss with an initial punch and still drive corners back. His pad level was occasionally too high and he was liable to be thrown back into running backs by stronger corners.

Summary: Miller’s last two years in Memphis showed a mature receiver with the technical and physical ability to compete against any defense. He was a hard-nosed receiver and played well in physical matchups. Though he wasn’t the quickest guy on the field, he was one of the sharpest. Memphis’s pace gave him the opportunity to set records and Miller cashed in every Saturday. His strength and body control made him a workhorse and a stat machine. His size didn’t make him stand out against the competition, but his timing and technique usually made up what he lacked. Though he didn’t light up many defenses after the catch, his work before the throw still got him 15 yards a catch in his final two seasons as a Tiger.

Overall Grade 3.3/5.0

 

If drafted by the Packers:

Miller would be a helpful Day 3 pickup to keep the receiving core in Green Bay young-ish. Coming into the draft as a redshirt senior with noticeable physical limits and a couple injuries, he will have to assure GMs that he can own a job in the NFL. His body has seen a lot of miles so far, but he didn’t seem to slow at all as his time in Memphis came to a close. In Green Bay, he would likely see limited snaps in his first couple years, but he could grow into a similar role as Davante Adams. Even if he never creates pro-bowl-receiver separation, his strength and flexibility suggest that he could adjust against against coverage and catch the tight-window contested passes that Rodgers likes to lob to Adams. With Jordy on his way out of town, Green Bay will need bodies to fill up the receiving depth chart, especially in the red zone. With hands as strong as his, Miller could make it work for at least the length of a rookie contract with Aaron Rodgers.

Video:

 

 

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Comments (8)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Spock's picture

March 26, 2018 at 10:07 am

The video with this article shows him dropping a lot of passes. Based on this limited view I'd "pass" on him too, lol.

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TKWorldWide's picture

March 26, 2018 at 10:44 am

Rule #1: Catch the ball.

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stockholder's picture

March 26, 2018 at 10:23 am

Size matters. I'm sure he'll help any team. But I just think the packers are better off getting taller Wrs.

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4zone's picture

March 26, 2018 at 10:38 am

Why do profiles on players who we have no shot at or no interest in. How about Chark or Mike Hughes?

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Robert William's picture

March 26, 2018 at 10:48 am

If we need a reciever this kid is a Wisconsin Native and could be had for a low round pick since he had poor quarterback play after Peterman went to the Bills.https://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/players/playerpage/2071601/jes...

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OnWisconsinGoPack's picture

March 26, 2018 at 11:08 am

This analysis is somewhat perplexing based upon the games I watched. This kid dominated, running great routes, great hands and making the tough contested catch so this surprised me. If we can get him in 4th, I'd be super excited.

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Bert's picture

March 26, 2018 at 01:23 pm

I've watched Cedric Wilson the last couple years at Boise St. Very good, smart, tough football player with great hands He would be a welcome addition as a 3-4 RD pickup.

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John Kirk's picture

March 26, 2018 at 07:33 pm

Paging Colin_C....Paging Colin_C... Please, pick up the red courtesy phone.

Should've had you guest write this one.

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